African social pastime a drug crime here

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Friday, 01/05/07

African social pastime a drug crime here

Police confiscating stimulant khat, arresting Midstate users

http://tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070105/NEWS03/701050384/1008/OPINION01By JENNIFER BROOKSStaff Writer

It was all over for Mohamed Iman the moment the Bedford County deputy noticed his green teeth.

The 24-year-old Somali immigrant had been pulled over during a routine traffic stop when the deputy spotted a telltale bulge in his cheek and bits of greenery along his gumline. On the floorboards of the car, according to the police report, was a small pile of what looked like wilted leaves and twigs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Most people would assume Iman was chewing substandard tobacco or a really bad salad. The deputy recognized the green stuff for what it was.

Khat. Tennessee's most obscure drug crime.

Khat ("cot") is a shrub found in parts of Africa and the Middle East. Its leaves and twigs have been chewed for their stimulating effects for thousands of years. In countries like Somalia, Ethiopia and Yemen, where the drug is legal and sold in markets, men gather to chew khat the way Americans get together for a cup of coffee or a beer after work.

And as more and more immigrants move to the U.S. from these countries, khat has followed.

"It's a bad thing," said Abdirizak Hassan, director of the Somali Community Center of Nashville, which works with the estimated 5,000 Somali immigrants and refugees who have relocated in recent years. "We tell people — forget about what you were doing back home. You're in America now."

Khat criminalized in U.S.

Here, fresh khat, a natural amphetamine, is a schedule I narcotic, in the same league with heroin and LSD, and it carries the same severe penalties. Iman's mouthful and the additional 2 pounds of the plant found in his car landed the Nashville man a 10-year jail sentence in November.

Many Somalis have moved to Bedford County in recent years, and Iman had the bad luck to be pulled over by a deputy who knew what to look for.

"He had it all in his teeth," said Deputy David Sakich, who spotted the car weaving along State Route 231 on Sept. 4, 2005. A search turned up 17 bags of khat in the vehicle — the largest amount ever confiscated in the county. Iman pleaded guilty to possession, but his attorney, Jefre Goldtrap, is appealing his sentence, arguing that his client did not understand the legal issues involved in his plea.

"It's out there, and there's a lot of it. But not many people are familiar with it," said Sakich, who had read up on the drug in manuals but had never seen fresh khat leaves until that day.

Despite the risks, khat smuggling is on the rise. In July, a federal Drug Enforcement Administration sting — dubbed "Operation Somali Express" — seized 25 tons of khat, worth an estimated $10 million and arrested 44 members of an alleged multistate drug smuggling ring that had been shipping massive quantities of the plant from the horn of Africa to immigrant communities in the U.S.

More and more, khat is finding its way onto Tennessee police blotters.

Officers intercept the plant almost by accident, usually when they're searching for other drugs.

Khat is not a subject many Somali immigrants feel comfortable discussing with outsiders. It remains virtually unknown outside the small circle of law enforcement officers who deal with it occasionally.

Neither the state attorney general's office nor the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation tracks khat arrests or prosecutions, leaving the record keeping to the local police.

"We don't have a clue how much is coming in," said Sgt. Mark Chestnut of the Metro Police Department's drug interdiction unit.

In 2005, Metro police impounded 121 pounds of khat. In 2006, the number was closer to 400 or 500 pounds. In comparison, Metro police seized 3,200 pounds of marijuana last year.

"It's almost blatant," Chestnut said of the way khat users smuggle the plants into this country in bulk shipments of 10 to 50 pounds.

Drug loses potency fast

Still, it's a tricky drug to smuggle. Users prefer to chew fresh leaves and stems, and the plants are most potent immediately after they've been picked. Cathinone, the key chemical that gives khat its kick, breaks down quickly and vanishes within two to three days.

If smugglers can't get the khat to market before then, they're left with wilted bits of shrubbery that can be dried for tea or sprinkled in food but are 10 times less potent than the fresh drug.

And if police don't move quickly to preserve and test the khat they've seized, the drug wilts and the case falls apart. It may be the only drug crime that can downgrade from a major felony to a parole-level offense in the time it takes to fill out the paperwork on the bust. Nashville police freeze impounded khat in an attempt to preserve it for trial.

At the Davidson County evidence lockup, Sgt. Neil Cook wheels in a cart full of khat. The khat comes into Nashville in bundles — 40 or so twigs with reddish buds at the tips, wrapped in banana leaves for freshness and wrapped around and around with twine.

On the cart, too, is the most common method of smuggling the drug into Nashville — a bright red Royal Mail shipping crate with one side ripped open to reveal bundles and bundles stacked neatly inside. The plants are swaddled in pages from the Daily Star tabloid, showing that the plants were shipped from Britain, where khat is legal and sells for about $6 per bundle.

In Nashville, a similar bundle would sell for between $15 and $35. The box, intercepted on Sept. 14, 2006, holds 20 pounds of khat.

Khat was added to the federal Controlled Substances Act in 1993, the same year that U.S. soldiers deployed to Somalia and began to report back about troops of the local warlords who attacked them with plugs of khat bulging in their cheeks.

But khat has never lived up to that boogeyman image in the U.S. In the years since its use was banned, khat has remained a low-key habit, limited almost exclusively to immigrants from the Horn of Africa and parts of the Arabian peninsula who use it when they socialize.

"Is it a drug that's causing a lot of crime? No," Hickerson said. "The majority of the khat we see in Nashville is being sent to family members. It's not sold for resale. There's nothing known about people robbing each other to support their khat habit."

Despite the concerns of federal drug officials, it does not appear to be spreading to other drug users. American drug addicts, after all, have plenty of other options — drugs that are more potent, won't wilt and won't turn their teeth green with prolonged use.

 

 

 

 

 

Sgt. Neil Cook holds an illegal drug called khat impounded in Nashville. Metro police sometimes freeze khat to preserve it as evidence. (MANDY LUNN / THE TENNESSEAN)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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All about khat

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IS KHAT ILLEGAL?

 

 

 

 

 

 

In this country, yes. Fresh khat leaves contain cathinone — a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act. Schedule I drugs, which include heroin and LSD, have a high potential for abuse. When khat leaves are no longer fresh (typically after 48 hours), their chemical composition breaks down. At that point they contain cathine, a Schedule IV substance. Schedule IV drugs are considered to have a lower potential for abuse but still can lead to limited physical or psychological dependence. Khat is legal in Great Britain, Australia and many countries where it is grown. It is banned in Canada and most of Europe.Attempts by Somalia's strict Islamic courts to ban khat have been met with widespread resistance.— JENNIFER BROOKS